


The Letter

by cheshireArcher



Category: Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 2 - Shakespeare
Genre: Angst, Gen, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Letters, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 11:56:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8712871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshireArcher/pseuds/cheshireArcher
Summary: After Shrewsbury, Kate discovers something waiting for her.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea today and I'm not sure where it came from. I ended up channeling my memories of my grief when my best friend died. I'm sorry. The next one with them will be happy.

It was late September and Northumberland was already cold. Harry Percy, the Hotspur of the North, had died two months before at Shrewsbury in the failed rebellion against the King. 

Kate still cried herself to sleep every night.

The rebels had lost the war. Edmund had lost his chance at the throne. Kate had lost the dearest thing in her life. 

But even if she had her entire life to cry, she could never do him justice.

She found herself digging through one of the trunks in their- her- room, sorting out its contents. She had to at one point, although she dreaded it. As she rummaged through Harry's clothes and for some reason (but unsurprisingly) a horse bit, her fingers brushed a piece of parchment. She finally loosed it from the folds of a surcoat and looked at it properly. It was folded and sealed with wax, with the seal of the Percy family.

In Harry's hand, it was addressed to her.

She hastily broke the seal, her head going cold. What could be in this? 

It was a letter, in Harry's sloppy hand.

_My Love Kate_

_If you're reading this it means I'm dead. I'm sure I died gloriously in battle. I brought honor to the house of Percy. I'm sorry I'm dead though for your sake. I hope you know that I love you. More than my dogs, the horses, Northumberland [Northumberland was scratched out] and I know you love me. I'm sorry for when I made you cry. I don't mean to hurt you. [Here there were several words completely covered over with ink] Please forgive me. I love the children too. Love, you know I'm no good at writing but I am trying. Watch over Alnwick. Be brave- you always are. Pet Lady for me. And don't forget me please. I swear I love you infinitely._

_-Your Harry_

Kate barely noticed the tears welling up in her eyes as she read the letter. She could hear his voice, just as she did sometimes, just as she felt something and for a moment thought it was him. Why, why was he so far away? She wiped her eyes and re-read the letter, as if to make sure it was still there and she hadn't dreamed it. 

“Harry…” she mumbled, dropping the letter and wrapping her arms around herself. She pretended they were his arms, she would take even imagined comfort now. She picked up the letter again and scanned it, her eyes falling on what she thought were the most important lines.

_I brought honor to the house of Percy._

That's what he always wanted, honor. He would never give up his belief in honor and that other people believed in it too.

_I hope you know that I love you._

Why the present tense, if he said above that he was dead? And knowing she was loved- she knew it. She knew it more than anything. Once she was scared that he no longer loved her- but then he had been controlled by some strange affliction in his mind. She knew he did. Knew he does.

_I'm sorry for when I made you cry._

She was crying right now. All because he had believed in his stupid honor and gone and got himself killed and now she no longer had the person she loved the most-

 _Please forgive me._

He always believed he was in the right. Never wanted to admit if he was wrong. But now… 

_I love the children too._

The son who looked just like him, who ten years ago she'd deposited in his arms and he instantly fell in love with, and the daughter born two years later who was proving to be just like her mother- and he had never been prouder.

_I swear I love you infinitely._

He promised he would say that. The infinite part was what stabbed her again and again. No matter what happened, no matter how much they fought or however obsessed he was things other than her, he loved her and those things didn't matter. 

Lady Kate Percy had not lost her husband. She'd lost her partner in this life, the one she'd learned to calm and the one in whose arms she'd fallen asleep in every night, safe and warm and loved. Husbands weren't that. Harry was… Harry. And she loved him for who he was. 

And now she sat on the bedroom floor, reading this strange and painful letter. When had he written it? How did he think it would reach her- especially since she found it jammed in between clothes? What made him think of writing something to her in this case? 

She wiped her tears again, trying not to think of all the times he'd done that for her, and the times she'd done it for him. She wished she'd never found this damned letter, she wished Lady had chewed it up like every other piece of parchment she found. 

No. She didn't wish those things. Now she knew. He'd just kissed her goodbye and said he'd be back. And here he was, his words that usually spilled out of his mouth without thought, now chosen carefully. 

She finally got up and made it to the desk on the other side of the room. There she found a scrap of parchment and quill and ink. 

_Dearest Harry-_

_Thank you for the letter. I've waited so long to hear from you._

Here she paused, unsure as to how to continue. 

_I'll keep your instructions in mind. I know how much you love Alnwick and Lady and the children. Lady and Henry and Elizabeth all miss you very much, as do I, love. I forgive you for the things you said, because I know you love me and you didn't mean them. So don't worry. I love you too, more than you ever could imagine._

The tears made yet another uncalled for appearance. Time to sound like she really was- the Kate Harry knew. 

_I want to punch you sometimes but I love you. Maybe that's why. I will never forget you- how could I? I will always love you. I can do nothing but._

_-Your Kate_

She took the letter outside as the sun set. When she was far enough away from any flammable buildings, she made a small fire. There she dipped her letter into the softly crackling flames and watched it slowly become consumed. The ashes were blown to the sky, across Northumberland and toward Scotland. 

When she returned to Alnwick, Lady following at her heels, she knew that Harry had received her letter. 


End file.
